Utopian visions: Education via-a-vis North Korea
This text is part of: "I would never send my kids to school" by Piotr Wozniak (2017)
North Korean vision
Kim Jong Un's motivations are noble. He wants to build a perfect society of perfect people with minimum corrupting influence from the western culture.
A stereotypical western meme says that North Korean regime is focused on one purpose only: preservation its own existence. In reality, the Kim dynasty has always focused on building a perfect society. All the outside appearances of hostility or struggle for self-preservation and privileges of power are only the side effect of the quest for perfection. To western minds, poverty, starvation, concentration camps, executions, and barb wires are a definite signature of the lack of respect for human life. It is inconceivable that those might be weighed up against the good of the future perfect society. We keep forgetting that we execute prisoners too, build border walls, tolerate poverty, and set up Guantanamo. We also do it in the name of better society and justice (defined the western way). Kim Jong Un kills with noble goals in mind too. Only his goals differ. To our best knowledge, his goals are entirely unrealistic. Kim does not live on an isolated island. North Korean borders leak information and humans. Kim cannot isolate the rational mind from basic human instincts and needs. He might try to stratify the flow of societal quality towards Pyongyang and cultural elite. However, the loftier the goals for the top layer, the harder the life for bottom layers of society. This is a classic optimization problem in building perfect social structures. Kim's strategy is based on a myth rooted in poor understanding of the human brain. The same myth drives the entire western education too. The main difference is that most of people believe that Kim is bad, and school is good.
Education vision
In the quest for perfect knowledge, we suppress the masses, we deprive children of their freedoms, and in the end we build an unhappy society. Kim Jong Un can provide a semblance of a perfect life for his elites. He can showcase great science with his nuclear accomplishments. Similarly, Western education systems can provide a semblance of perfect education for the lucky minority. In the process, freedom and creative potential of the vast majority gets suppressed. The goals are lofty and noble: we try to help all kids get the best knowledge to succeed in life. The mechanics of North Korea and of western education system are the same.
Many educators can see the optimization problem of schooling. Most of them can see some portions of the problem. Sadly, very few can see the big picture of the big error of education. Too few people can truly grasp the problem of the global optimization of education.
Perfect society problem
It is no coincidence that I focused my rants on Germany and Sweden (see: European outcasts). Both belong to our federation of European states. Both are part of my family. Both have been characterized by their quest for perfection, incl. perfection in social justice. Both have been pretty bold and radical in social experimentation. Both have been very successful in accomplishing multiple goals of a perfect society. Regrettably, both have also banned homeschooling, which is the greatest conceivable violation of educational freedoms on European soil.
Explaining the problem of schooling
If you are unconvinced but somewhat intrigued, have a peek at my efforts at explaining the problem using metaphors:
- Knowledge crystallization problem
- Jigsaw puzzle metaphor of effective learning
- Mountain climb metaphor of schooling
- Soviet Economy metaphor of the education system
For a comprehensive list of topics, see: Problem of schooling